Sleepless Nights And Pinky Promises
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: "It's not the fingers that signify the promise. That's just the motion. The true belief is that you really trust the other person to keep their promise from the bottom of your heart." (Happy Birthday to Ashleigh!)


**Just a little something I threw together for technoskittles (Ashleigh)'s birthday! She's my Ruby in our role play, and I couldn't have asked for a better partner! Happy birthday, darling!  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.**

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Sleepless Nights And Pinky Promises

Ruby could always tell how good or bad of a day it would be depending on Weiss's attitude when she woke up every morning.

The leader would wake with her own intuition about how the day would go, but it was not until she heard the extent of Weiss's crankiness that she would get to determine how her mornings would play out.

By now, Ruby was used to the usual routine, which was to wake up first and gently shake her partner awake second, but only after letting her sleep as long as she dared. Weiss would usually be somewhat prickly when she awoke, but Ruby could hardly blame her; she always looked like she needed more sleep than she actually got.

This morning, Ruby awoke before her alarm clock, several hours before, and relished the feeling of getting to doze off for an extended period of time. She closed her eyes again and dove back underneath the covers to will sleep to return to her.

However, past Yang's slight snoring, which she had been long-since capable of drowning out, Ruby heard another, more unsettling sound.

She often heard Weiss twisting and turning about in her sleep in the middle of the night, as the creaking of her bed below had woken Ruby more than once within the past few months. She always hated having to listen to the tortured sounds of nightmares coming from the heiress's bed, and would often bury her head beneath her pillow to stifle them.

But presently, Ruby could not decide if the sounds she heard were equally or more troubling than the usual ones. She could hear Weiss moaning in her sleep, a withering sound that pained Ruby's chest to listen to. It was followed by a small, pitiful whimper and a lot of turning about.

Normally, Ruby could force herself to tune out; despite how much she hated having to listen to Weiss like that, she knew that if she woke her partner and confronted her about it, it would only result in making Weiss more upset.

But there was something about the sounds she was making now; rather than an intangible bad dream causing her turmoil, it sounded as though the heiress was in physical pain.

Swallowing hard, Ruby slowly removed herself from her blankets and peeked over the edge of her bed.

The sliver of moonlight within the room highlighted her partner's alabaster tresses, which were tangled about her shoulders, evidence that Weiss had been turning about a lot more than she should have been while sleeping. She was facing away from Ruby lying on her stomach, but after another minute, she moaned again, apparently still unconscious as she twisted herself to face Ruby's way now.

The sounds she made confirmed to Ruby that her partner was in actual pain, therefore the leader crept over the side of her bed, landing lightly as a cat onto the floor. She flicked on the bedside lamp, relieved that the light did not wake Blake or Yang as she ducked her head and reached forward toward the heiress.

"Weiss?" Shaking her shoulder gently, Ruby called out to her. Her response was yet another strangled moan and she winced, biting her lip before trying again. "Weiss?"

This time, the shake managed to break Weiss from her slumber, and two pools of mist-blue blinked slowly back up at Ruby. The brunette prepared herself for the yelling, but instead the heiress blinked in confusion.

"Ruby?" She mumbled.

"Yes! I'm sorry, but you were um... You just sounded like you were... not okay." She explained worriedly.

"Hardly surprising," Weiss winced as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. "I'm not feeling too well right now..." She wrapped her arms around her stomach and hunched forward, wheezing slightly as her lips let slip another moan.

"Oh gosh," Ruby instantly sat down beside her and began rubbing her back gently. "S-Should I take you to the infirmary? I hope someone's there..." She fretted.

"No need. It's nothing that bad." Weiss sighed. "My stomach just hurts."

"_Just_?!" Ruby repeated. "Then you're _not_ fine at all!"

"Ruby, honestly. I'll be fine." Weiss lifted her face to give her leader her best attempt at a reassuring look. "Just give me a moment..."

Despite her better judgement, Ruby obeyed, continuing to rub her palm up and down Weiss's back as the heiress breathed deeply.

Ruby was surprised Weiss so un-argumentative. She would have assumed her partner would snap at her and turn her away immediately, and even though she denied her ailments at present, she did not sound as irritated as Ruby thought she would have been. Perhaps it was because it was the middle of the night and her teammates were still asleep.

But something told Ruby it might have been because she was woken up so much earlier than usual that she did not have the energy to be tart. _Maybe the next time I need to ask her a question about studying, I'll wait until she's slept for a few hours. _Ruby mused to herself.

After a few minutes, Weiss lifted her head again and straightened her posture. "See? I'm fine now. Just a little stomachache." She shrugged. Her leader's silver eyes regarded her suspiciously.

Then, Ruby slowly lifted her left hand and held her little finger out to her. Weiss sighed, knowing there was only one way to reassure Ruby.

Removing her left hand from her stomach, Weiss slipped her pinky finger around Ruby's. "I _promise_. Okay?"

She had not had to resort to partaking in what Ruby called a "pinky promise" very many times before. When her partner first told her about the concept, Weiss had scoffed, calling it ridiculous, declaring that no statement or action could be held valid due to the binding of fingers.

But she recalled Ruby's immediate response: _"It's not the fingers that signify the promise,"_ she had said. _"That's just the motion. The true belief is that you really trust the other person to keep their promise from the bottom of your heart. Think of it this way; it means, if you were dangling off the edge of a cliff, you're trusting the other person to hold on no matter what, even if it's down to the smallest, weakest finger. That's how much you trust them." _

Presently, Ruby could feel the earnestness behind Weiss's motion; it was evident by Weiss's refusal to meet her gaze due to embarrassment that she had no reason to be lying.

Feeling a bit better, Ruby smiled as their hands came apart.

"Sorry for waking you." Weiss said softly. "But I'm okay now. You should go back to sleep."

"Don't worry about it." Ruby replied. "I have a natural instinct to respond when my team is in trouble, even if I'm in a dead sleep!" She was taken aback when Weiss chuckled slightly. _Wow. Maybe I should wake her up in the middle of the night more often?_

However, just before Weiss could lie down again, Ruby noticed something and stopped her. "Hold on." She put a hand on the heiress's shoulder to hold her back.

Weiss watched, puzzled as her leader placed her free hand on the mattress, pressing down in the area where Weiss had been sleeping. "Ah-ha!" Ruby exclaimed, making the heiress jump a bit. "The springs are messed up." Ruby diagnosed.

"Pardon?" Weiss blinked.

"The springs in your mattress." Ruby clarified. "They're pushing up where you were lying all night. That's probably why your stomach hurt so much."

"...I see." The heiress nodded as she felt the springs for herself. "I suppose I'll have to get that taken care of tomorrow."

"But until then, you can't sleep like this!" Ruby fretted. "You'll just wake up feeling sick again." She felt the mattress once more, locating the places where the springs rose up. "It's all in the middle, but if you tried to sleep on the side, I don't think it'd be very comfortable..."

"I'll manage." Weiss made a move to lie down on the edge of the bed, but Ruby held her back.

"I won't be able to sleep knowing you're about to roll off any minute." She stated. "Why don't you bunk with me for tonight?"

"I _beg_ your pardon?" The heiress coughed.

"Come on, it'll be fun! You _did_ say you always wanted bunk beds, right? And yet you got the bottom one here. Everyone wants the top bed at least once, right?" Ruby's eyes sparkled with excitement as she grabbed Weiss's hands and pulled her to her feet. "Do you need me to give you a boost?"

"No thank you!" The heiress replied immediately.

"Okay, okay." Ruby chuckled. She hoisted herself up onto her bed, a move she had mastered long ago that was now second nature to her. Weiss still looked a bit uncertain, her gaze flashing back to her own bed for an instant. "Oh, no you don't." Ruby scolded. "I'm not letting you suffer on that thing all night."

"I know! I'm coming up, okay?" Weiss huffed. "I just... how do I go about this...?" She stepped onto her bed before reaching up to her leader's. She scrambled a bit in her attempts to lift herself up, but slipped and lost her footing.

"Whoa!" Ruby's hands darted out swiftly as she grasped Weiss's forearms to steady her. "Hold on! Okay, okay. I've got you. Now slowly, go slowly. I'll pull you up." Weiss grimaced as she followed her leader's instructions, freezing up when the bunk shook slightly. "It's okay." Ruby reassured her. "It always does that. But it's never fallen, right?"

"First time for everything..." Weiss muttered. She forced herself to ignore the fear of falling and surged upward, Ruby pulling her forward at the same time until the heiress rested safely on her bed.

"There!" Ruby smiled.

Weiss remained absolutely still, fearful that if she moved they would go crashing to the ground, damaging her bed even further; and of course it would not be a pleasant experience for them, either.

"You don't have to be so stiff!" Ruby shook her partner's shoulder to snap her out of her petrified state. "Everything's fine, see?"

Weiss started a bit, but soon relaxed when she realized the bed was not going to collapse beneath her. "Okay." She brushed Ruby's hand away. "Just... please don't move around any more than what's necessary."

"Got it!" Ruby gave a salute before looking over the heiress's shoulder and frowning. "Ah. We forgot to turn off the light."

"R-Ruby, hold on-"

"I'm on it!" Ruby jumped down from her bed, leaving Weiss cowering as she anticipated to crash to the ground. But the sturdy bed hardly swayed, even after Ruby flicked off the lamp and climbed back up beside her. "See? Nooothing to worry about."

"Would you pinky promise me that?"

"Ah..." Ruby did not reply and instead hid beneath her blankets guiltily.

"I thought as much." Weiss muttered as she reluctantly followed Ruby underneath the covers. "But I suppose I'm grateful to know you don't simply go around making promises willy-nilly." She rested her head on the pillow, suddenly finding it a much smaller space than she had anticipated.

"Never!" Ruby declared. "I'll never make a promise I'm not one hundred and ten percent sure I can't keep!" She scooted closer to Weiss in earnest, and the heiress slid back a bit. "Whoa, careful!" Ruby reached out to grab her partner as she noticed Weiss begin to slip off and instantly pulled her closer. "This is a one-person bed, remember? So we've gotta stay in the middle."

"R...Right..." Weiss's heart was still pounding from the chilling sensation that had slithered up her spine, too consumed by the shock of almost falling to feel mortified that she was being pulled closer to her leader.

However, she _was_ self-conscious enough to realize that her face was in drastic proximity to Ruby's, so she carefully flipped herself over to face the other direction. Ruby had expected as much, but smiled nonetheless. She dared to be so bold as to wrap her arms around Weiss's waist.

"W-What are you-?!"

"I just want to be sure you don't fall off."

Once Ruby had given her explanation, Weiss fell silent and allowed the contact, not particularly fond of the idea of tumbling off and breaking her arm.

She was surprised at just how much warmer a bed could be with another person beside her, and her body shook, shedding the last bit of cold away to welcome Ruby's presence.

"Is your stomach okay now?" Ruby asked, making sure not to squeeze Weiss too hard.

"Yes..." Her partner replied simply. Ruby wondered if she was already falling asleep, so she refrained from talking anymore than she had to. She closed her eyes, pressing softly against Weiss' back as she rested her face on a curtain of soft, alabaster hair. But just before she could nod off, the heiress spoke again. "Hey, Ruby?"

"Uh-huh?"

"What you were saying before... about only making promises you can keep..." She paused, and Ruby imagined she was biting her lip before she brought herself to continue. "I want you to be honest with me: can you promise that we'll... always be teammates? That we'll never betray one another?"

Ruby was silent for a long moment after that, weighing those words, recognizing their severity.

She definitely was not going to make a promise she could not keep.

Therefore, Ruby moved her arms up until she found both of Weiss's hands. The heiress went still as she felt Ruby uncurling her fingers. Then, Ruby slipped her pinkies around both of hers and squeezed them tightly.

Ruby definitely was not going to make a promise she could not keep. Which was why she was confident on making _this_ one.

"Weiss." She murmured. "I can't promise you that we'll be teammates forever..." Weiss shivered again and bit her lip. But Ruby continued. "But I _can_ promise you, with my entire life, with every fiber of my soul, that I will never, _ever_ betray you."

As she tightened her fingers around Weiss's, Ruby ended up pulling her closer, as well. Weiss listened to her words, felt the honesty in her actions and smiled. She returned the curl of her pinkies with just as much fervor.

"Thank you, Ruby. I'll never betray you, either. Never."

At last Weiss allowed her eyelids to close, settling into that warmth.

Ruby smiled again, and before long the two drifted off into a peaceful slumber neither had been blessed with for years previously.

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"Yang!"

"Oh my god, you two!"

"YAAANNGG!" Ruby screamed again.

"No, no, don't mind me! Just happy to see my lil sister's enjoying herself."

"Yang, her mattress was-"

"But seriously you two were just _cuddling_ like that! First thing I saw when I woke up this morning. Pure gold!"

"Listen to me!" Ruby stomped her foot.

As the sisters continued to bicker, Weiss sat on the edge of her own bed with her face in her hands. Blake sat beside her and suppressed an amused smirk as she tried to offer solace, but it was clear that the damage had been done.

"I can't believe this is happening..." Weiss mumbled.

"Really?" Blake asked. "I can. You two should have known better." She smirked.

But even past all of the squabbling that went on that morning, Weiss managed to smile fondly as she looked down at her hands, her pinky fingers still able to feel Ruby's around them in their promise.

_I'll be holding you to it, you dunce._

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**A/N: I hope you liked it! I know it was OOC but my stories often are, heheh.**

**Please review!**


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